He takes a deep breath, and his chest expands against mine. “I’ll have all the paperwork taken care of. Be at the church on Sunday at three.”
He walks to my open door and stops and turns toward me. “And Janie, don’t think about leaving. I’ll find you.”
He walks away, and only when I hear the front door slam a few seconds later do I let out a breath. How can I do this? How can I marry someone that is not capable of love?
A few seconds later, my dad comes to my door. “Everything okay?”
I nod. I blush just talking about it. I’ve never even had a real boyfriend, and now here I am talking about getting married. “Yeah, did you hear that Carter wants to marry me?”
My dad laughs. “Yeah, but the way he worded it, he’s marrying you.”
I go over and sit on my bed. “Dad, how can I marry him? He doesn’t love me. He may never love me.”
My dad’s forehead creases in confusion. “Did he tell you that?”
I shake my head. “He didn’t have to. When we went out, he said that he thought we should just be friends. I know his ex-wife did a number on him, but can I really marry someone and not know what the future holds?”
My dad sits on the bed beside me and takes my hand. “I’ve known Carter Grant for many years. I don’t know if you know a lot of his story since he’s older than you, but at one time, he was in foster care. His parents were nowhere to be found. The Yates took him in, and he was around fifteen at the time. He worked that ranch like it was his own. And then at one point he was married. She left him when he wasn’t getting his own ranch fast enough. She wasn’t made for ranch life. I saw it in his eyes when he had no family, I saw it in his eyes when his wife left him, and I see the same thing now. He just needs somewhere where he feels safe. He needs someone to love him as he is. If you feel that way about him, then you marry him. If you don’t, then you tell him no and I’ll stand by you when you do it. I just want you happy, Janie.”
“I think I could be happy with Carter. I love him,” I confess, even though my heart’s breaking in two right now.
He nods and stands up. “Well, if you love him, then your decision is made. The rest will fall into place, honey.”
I look at the man that I’ve looked up to my whole life. He’s helped people through marriages, divorces, births, deaths, and more. He’s never once led someone wrong or told them something just because they wanted to hear it. He’s honest and heartfelt, and knowing that he has my back makes all the difference in the world. “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, sweetie.”
I fall back on my bed. I can’t believe I’m getting married in three days.
13
Carter
All I want to do is make her happy, but somehow I’ve seemed to do the exact opposite. We got married earlier in her father’s church, with just a few close friends in attendance. She looked breathtaking and beautiful in her white gown, and watching her as she walked down the aisle, I felt like I was going crazy because it felt like she wasn’t going fast enough.
The ceremony was over quickly, and her friends at Sugar Glaze surprised us with a cake reception afterwards in the church dining hall. Everything was perfect, except for the fact that Janie seems miserable.
I made reservations for three nights at a hotel in Jasper. It’s nothing exotic, and I wish I could take her somewhere better, but with the new horses at the Yates Ranch and getting our ranch set up, I couldn’t take any more time off.
“Are you okay?” I ask her for the third time.
The drive to Jasper is only an hour, but the silence in the truck makes it seem so much longer. She’s changed into a simple white summer dress, and it makes her look even more innocent. Again, for the third time, she says, “I’m fine.”
We check into the hotel. “Are you hungry?” I ask her, pointing at the restaurant.
She nods, and I ask the bellman to take our bags to our room. I hold her hand and walk with her to the restaurant. I’m not hungry and feel like I can’t eat a thing. I’ve been on edge since I put a ring on her finger this afternoon. The need to claim her is almost too much to bear.
We eat our meal. I barely touch the steak, and she barely touches her salad. The longer she’s quiet, the more guilty I feel. I pushed her into this. Throwing it in her face that the town hates me and it’ll ruin my reputation. I don’t care about that; I panicked, and I had to have her. But now I’m wondering if I went about it the wrong way.